00:00It seems that Taiwan has finally come to its senses.
00:03Next year's defense budget has surpassed 1 trillion Taiwan dollars for the first time in history.
00:08That's about 48 trillion Korean won.
00:11They showed strong resolve, declaring that if the Chinese military lands,
00:14all of Taiwan will become a living hell.
00:17First, let's discuss the defense budget.
00:19For the first time, Taiwan's defense budget topped 1 trillion Taiwan dollars.
00:23The executive yen plans to propose a 16% increase for 2027 compared to this year.
00:29The budget plan to be released on the 20th is expected to exceed 1.1 trillion Taiwan dollars.
00:34Like this year, it is expected to surpass 3% of GDP.
00:39Taiwan has already stated that it will spend 5% of its GDP on defense by 2030.
00:44President Lai Ching-ta is very interested in the modernization of the Taiwanese military.
00:48And according to President Lai Ching-ta,
00:50he emphasized that he would push for defense reforms and build whole-of-society defense resilience.
00:55And also stated that he would raise Taiwan's self-defense capabilities
00:58by ensuring that the defense budget reaches 3% of GDP or more.
01:02The Taiwanese military is actively training.
01:05Currently, Han Kuang exercises are being conducted throughout Taiwan.
01:09In these air defense drills, operations are carried out continuously for 24 hours without any prior script.
01:14The drills will run for 10 days until the 14th, simulating a scenario where,
01:18under the guise of a large-scale joint exercise,
01:20the Chinese military completes its invasion preparations and then starts crossing the Taiwan Strait.
01:25President Lai Ching-ta participated in drills,
01:28simulating a Chinese military decapitation operation against him,
01:32and personally joined evacuation training.
01:34The presidential office stated that this year's National Defense Combat Command
01:38and government continuity training is intended to check the government's command system,
01:41cooperation, and emergency response system,
01:43so that the government can function normally even in a crisis situation.
01:47In fact, since there are ongoing discussions about the possibility of the Chinese military
01:51carrying out a decapitation strike targeting Taiwan's leadership,
01:54it appears that Taiwan has also conducted evacuation drills in response.
01:58In addition, they made the training more practical by directly blocking various bridges and ports.
02:02Furthermore, local governments also participated in large numbers,
02:06conducting urban resilience training.
02:08Through this, they directly carried out resident evacuations,
02:11transported the injured, and operated underground hospitals.
02:14In 14 central and northern cities and counties,
02:16they intentionally slowed data speeds for 30 minutes to test their response to communication disruptions.
02:21On top of that, Taiwan is currently preparing what's called the Hellscape Operation.
02:25They are preparing an operation to turn the entire island of Taiwan into a hellscape
02:28in the event that Chinese forces land.
02:30To achieve this, the Taiwanese government aims to produce 100,000 drones per month by 2030,
02:35and for the military to secure more than 210,000 aerial and maritime drones.
02:40With a simple calculation, even if only 10% of the 210,000 drones are actually deployed for strike missions,
02:46that would amount to 21,000 drones.
02:48Taiwan is using lessons from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to improve its military.
02:54They are also considering a method of relentlessly sending drones during the Chinese military's landing process
02:59to prevent the landing itself.
03:01To this end, Taiwan recently established a new coastal combat command,
03:04which will also actively use drones to deny any landing attempts.
03:08However, what Taiwan needs to prepare for is not just the Chinese military's landing operations.
03:13China might not send large-scale troops to Taiwan right away,
03:16but could isolate Taiwan by blocking sea and air traffic.
03:20Due to its geography as an island, in a prolonged war,
03:24maintaining supplies of energy, raw materials, food, and goods from outside becomes a critical issue.
03:30If China controls sea and air routes around Taiwan or disrupts major ports,
03:35it could directly impact Taiwan's military facilities, civilian economy, and industrial facilities.
03:40Energy supply is crucial because Taiwan relies heavily on imported energy for power generation.
03:46Any maritime transport disruption could impact electricity production.
03:50Unstable electricity could disrupt factories, communications, finance, transportation,
03:54and vital services like hospitals.
03:56If port functions are restricted, companies will struggle to get raw materials
04:00and face major disruptions to movement in and out.
04:03If China blockades Taiwan, it could weaken Taiwan's war efforts by pressuring its economy and logistics,
04:09even without directly attacking military sites.
04:12For this reason, Taiwan is preparing not only for a situation where Chinese forces land,
04:16but also for a scenario where supply chains connecting it to the outside world are cut off.
04:20When war breaks out, it's important to have powerful weapons,
04:23but it's also crucial to be able to continuously secure necessary fuel, ammunition, food, and medical supplies.
04:29The reason Taiwan has recently been inspecting both civilian infrastructure and national functions together
04:34is also because they are taking these situations into consideration.
04:37Taiwan is boosting its military mainly because of China's increasing military threat.
04:42Recently, the Chinese military has been expanding its activities around Taiwan.
04:47Not only does China regularly conduct large-scale military exercises around Taiwan,
04:51but it is also increasing pressure on Taiwan by carrying out live-fire drills.
04:55In particular, the activities of the Chinese military have changed from being concentrated only at certain times in the past
05:00to now constantly showing their military presence around Taiwan.
05:03As a result, Taiwan is now in a situation where it has to consider the possibility
05:07that every single move by the Chinese military could actually lead to a military conflict.
05:11Recently, Chinese military activity in Taiwan's airspace has expanded further.
05:16On July 20th, it was reported that Chinese military helicopters and drones
05:20violated Taiwan's restricted airspace for the first time.
05:23Since the Taiwanese military has to continuously monitor and respond to the movements of Chinese military aircraft,
05:28Taiwan must maintain a significant level of military readiness even during peacetime.
05:32As China continues to pressure Taiwan militarily, Taiwan's higher defense spending isn't just an arms buildup
05:39but a response to the actual security situation.
05:42In addition, pressure from the United States is also having a significant impact.
05:45President Trump continues to demand that Taiwan strengthen its own defense capabilities
05:49and spend more on its defense budget.
05:51For the United States, it's important that Taiwan facing China can defend itself.
05:56Because the United States can only provide limited military support to Taiwan,
06:00there's increasing pressure for Taiwan to buy more weapons and modernize its military.
06:05However, internal political conflict in Taiwan remains a major concern.
06:09There is a heated clash between the ruling Democratic Progressive Party seeking a higher defense budget
06:14and the opposition Kuomintang, which opposes it.
06:16The Democratic Progressive Party says more funds are needed for national security,
06:21while the Kuomintang questions the government's high defense spending.
06:24The main issue raised by the Kuomintang is whether the massive budget will actually be used properly
06:29where it is truly needed.
06:31As the Taiwanese government tries to allocate a large special budget for strengthening national defense,
06:36the opposition parties, including the Kuomintang,
06:38continue to raise concerns about possible budget waste and corruption.
06:42In particular, the opposition argues that if the government allocates a large defense budget all at once,
06:47it will be difficult for the legislature to provide sufficient oversight and control.
06:50The Kuomintang does not oppose strengthening national defense,
06:54but is concerned about the government's budget proposal size and its implementation.
06:59Above all, within the Kuomintang, there are even voices saying that increasing the defense budget like this
07:03could provoke China and lead to war.
07:06In fact, last May in the Taiwanese parliament, the special defense budget,
07:10which was originally planned to be 1.25 trillion Taiwan dollars,
07:13was reduced to about 780 billion Taiwan dollars.
07:16The opposition questioned the defense budget's size and execution,
07:20prompting major changes during the parliamentary review.
07:23During this process, the conflict between the government and the opposition also intensified.
07:27Within the Kuomintang, there is criticism that the government is excessively increasing the defense budget,
07:31which is further heightening tensions in Taiwan.
07:34Opinions differ on whether raising the defense budget continuously
07:37actually lowers the risk of military conflict with China.
07:40The opposition warns the government's policy may trigger excessive military action,
07:45and these disagreements are now evident in the legislature's budget review.
07:50Because of Taiwan's political structure,
07:52the Democratic Progressive Party can't set the defense budget alone.
07:55Even if the government proposes a higher defense budget,
07:58it still requires legislative yuan approval after review.
08:01Currently, since the opposition holds considerable influence in the legislature,
08:05the Democratic Progressive Party's defense policies will also have difficulty moving forward
08:08unless they secure the legislature's approval.
08:11Because of this, in Taiwan right now, there is ongoing political conflict
08:15not only over how much to increase the defense budget,
08:17but also over who will decide on the budget and how it will be executed.
08:21The Democratic Progressive Party wants to quickly boost national defense for security,
08:25while the Kuomintang says a full legislative review is needed before approving the large budget.
08:31With both sides taking different approaches to strengthening national defense,
08:35legislative discussions will be crucial in determining the final size of Taiwan's defense budget.
08:41Ah.
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